Birds--General/Laying hens

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Expert: Abi - 11/3/2008


Question
Hi. I am mailing from South Africa. I have a dual purpose South African breed of chickens called the Koekoek, which is similar to the Plymouth Rock. They will begin laying in about 2 months time. What natural veggies and grains can i feed them with for good quality and frequent egg laying instead of laying mash?
thanks

Answer
For grains I would give them mixed corn, such as wheat and maize- a nice treat to add to this is dried or even live mealworms. They love pretty much all veggies, but find it difficult to digest raw carrot and potato peelings. I give mine spring greens on a spike stuck in the ground (like a kebab!) as it's a great boredom beater, a little bit of spinach now and again to boost laying and pretty much all my cooked veg kitchen scraps and soggy salad!
You can give them an organic layers pellet instead of the chemical stuff. A good website to have a look on is www.omlet.co.uk
Here's the link to their organic layers pellets http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cat=Chicken%20Extras&sub=Food&product_id=80...

Thanks for your question.

Birds--General

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Abi

Expertise

I CAN'T ANSWER QUESTIONS ON ANIMALS OTHER THAN CHICKENS/DUCKS/GEESE- I WILL TRY BUT THEY ARE NOT MY SPECIALIST SUBJECT- PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT BUDGIES, FINCHES, PARROTS, COCKATIELS OR OTHER 'EXOTIC' BIRDS. I can answer questions on pretty much all CHICKEN breeds, including fancy and bantam birds. I can give advice on how to get the best egg production, brightest yolk colours and darkest egg shell colours, breeding (using broody hens, not incubators), bird problems/illnesses. I can give advice on all aspects of basic chicken care but I breed chickens for my own pleasure only, I do not often show or sell my birds.

Experience

I own and breed a wide range of chickens, but I speciallise in cochins and crevecour bantams; crevecours have a large crest (an afro!) so I can answer questions on problems concerning them; cochins have feathered legs, which leads to no end of problems which I have experienced! I also own a large flock of domestic, rescued 'battery' hens, and a single maran hen, Hilda, who is the matriarch of her flock, so I can give advice on how to get the best colour of maran eggs!

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